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Season 2 Episode 08: The Decision Maker on High
"The Decision Maker on High" (高所の決定者, Kousho no Ketteisha) is the eighth episode of the second season of the Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon anime series. It was released on August 25, 2012, and was directed by Kurasumi Sunayama. The meeting of key figures of England and Musashi is interrupted by members of the Tres España's student body and P.A. ODA's sole representative. As the discussion about what England and Musashi should do as the date of the recreation of the Battle of the Armada nears, Masazumi is given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the Apocalypse and the efforts of brilliant minds across the Divine States to stop it. Synopsis The meeting between the officers of England and Musashi is suddenly interrupted by the presence of two members of Tres España's Student Council and Chancellor's Board: Diego Velasquez and Gin Tachibana. Velasquez admits that a trade alliance is an interesting idea, but he voices out his refusal to let the agreement pass. And Velasquez blames Horizon for this, pointing out the hypocritical thought of accusing the execution of Horizon Ariadust as a misuse of historical recreation while approving Mary's execution to show support towards historical recreation. Soon, another man joins the discussion, and this time, it is a member of P.A. ODA's P.A.O.M., the man who inherited the name of "Mercenary King" Albrecht von Wallenstein, Toshiie Maeda. F. Walsingham seems to dislike Maeda's presence in the throne room of England, but Toshiie quickly takes care of the wine glass thrown by F. Walsingham and keeps it to himself. Then, Toshiie focuses on the topic at hand, and outright denies the possibility of M.H.R.R. agreeing to enter an agreement with Musashi. Masazumi thinks that the ongoing recreation of the Thirty Years' War is hindering M.H.R.R. to make any moves, but Toshiie adds the fact that the alliance is simply impossible. Toshiie adds that having England join forces with Musashi will enrage M.H.R.R. to the point of willingness to crush both nations, turning the European sea routes into a living hell. Thus, his proposal is to destroy Musashi at that place, at that very moment. Although P.A. ODA is the only state without a Mortal Sin Armament given to them, the nation's Six Demon Army was given special weapons... and Toshiie unleashes his weapon, the Israfil, and with Toshiie's order, an undead army of several thousand emerge from the ground, surrounding London and the land around it — Toshiie's very own army of undead, the Kaga Million Geist. As Toshiie awaits Elizabeth's orders to crush Musashi, Masazumi takes the move as a direct sign of aggression against Musashi. Toshiie points out that since the forces of Nobunaga (P.A. ODA) and Tokugawa (Musashi) will eventually clash swords at the Battle of Mitakigahara, he sees it natural that he will treat them as enemies. As tension rises... ...a naked man comes rolling into the throne room, putting everyone off. A stark naked Toori soon covers his top with Masazumi's shirt, and ends up getting kicked by Horizon and Masazumi, the latter of which is pissed at Toori using her uniform. As Toori reveals his adventures at the nearby dressing room, Tomo becomes so angry that she uses her longbow to shoot Toori straight through a wall. Elizabeth is clearly alarmed at Tomo bringing her weapon at the meeting, but Masazumi tries to explain the necessity of Tomo's bow in Shinto ceremonies. Fortunately, the fact that Toori was unscathed was able to support Masazumi's claim of Tomo's weapon being "harmless". Then, a "clang!" sound is heard, and Masazumi is shocked to find out that Horizon's Lype Katathlipse falls from her hidden storage space. A long moment of silence, followed by a realization that it looks too similar to something, soon envelops the throne room. This time, Masazumi leaves Tomo to do the explaining. And she ends up calling the "thing" that just fell a body pillow. Fortunately, the others seem to buy it, but Tomo felt that it was such a nerve-wracking experience. Soon, Diego shifts the topic back to his question about Musashi's agreement with England. Toori soon butts in, and tells Velasquez that Musashi will not go to war. However, Velasquez points out that Musashi going to battle is inevitable, since they had done this before with Horizon being rescued from her execution. Toori decides to ask Horizon about her opinion about this issue, since she was the one involved in it. Horizon agrees that the execution of a person who is ready to die is proper use of the Testament, although she also understands the concept of avoiding the loss of life. Horizon soon comes up with an exception to the rule, and that is when a person is supposed to continue living based on historical reenactments. Thus, if a person wants to die, then the endorsement of that person's death is not wrong. As Toori comments on how emotionless Horizon seems, she turns to Velasquez and asks him for his reasons to directly interfere with the wishes of others, and asks about what are his grounds for saying that something is right or wrong. Horizon then guesses that based on what she thinks is Velasquez's moral standpoint, if she did judge it correctly, he wanted her to save Mary. After Toori wraps up Horizon's view on the situation, Gin concludes that Horizon was unable to understand the need of history recreation, but understands how one must interpret it. With this, Gin decides that the only way necessary at this stage is to declare war, much to Toori's disappointment. Toori then asks Velasquez to trust in Horizon, and tells him that the time when someone falls in love with Mary and when Horizon understands it is the perfect time for Musashi to go and save Mary. The spirits livened up by Toori's declaration is soon dragged back to tension by Toshiie, who continues to await Elizabeth's command to eliminate Musashi. Masazumi points out that the pushy Toshiie Maeda is butting himself too much into the meeting as an outsider, but Toshiie responds that it is Musashi itself who is the real outsider. Then, Masazumi decides to play a new card; she proposes that the previously negotiated plan for a trade agreement between the two be withdrawn, and replacing it would be a request to cancel the ongoing contract of England with Wallenstein (i.e., Toshiie). Toshiie warns Elizabeth that voiding the contract between them would render the possibility of England suffering heavy losses in the Battle of the Armada an inevitable scenario, and it would also leave England with no frontliners in the battle. Masazumi's answer: she would allow England to use the Musashi as its mercenary vessel during the Battle of the Armada. The proposal surprises everyone from all sides, including Innocentius, who sees this move as a viable alternative to Masazumi's previous proposal of establishing trade with England. This time, Musashi can acquire military hardware as part of becoming England's mercenary fleet, and it quickly solves the current problem between the two. Toshiie does not answer to Masazumi's deal with England, but instead asks Masazumi if she has already been to Avalon. Upon seeing her puzzled expression, Toshiie considers it as a sign of her current worth, and tells her that she knows very little at this stage. Upon leaving, Toshiie leaves behind a grim message to Masazumi in the form of a Nikyou Crest. Soon, Elizabeth confirms that she has just lifted her contract with Wallenstein and has accepted Musashi's proposal of becoming England's mercenary fleet. She then marks the end of the day's meeting. Minutes later, Elizabeth takes Masazumi to a hallway behind the throne room. After hitting Masazumi with her sword-shaped headdress on the head three times, Elizabeth takes her to a hidden passageway... to Avalon. Masazumi is amazed upon seeing a vast field located in what seems to be a separate space from the castle they were in just a while ago. Elizabeth explains that this secret place was constructed by former Chancellor Henry VIII after finding his quarters in the London Tower too cramped. Soon, Masazumi notices images of two children who look exactly alike running around in the flower fields of Avalon. Elizabeth tells her that those images were of her and her twin when they are small, and the compression of ether in this place caused their images to persist over a long period of time. She soon reveals that she no longer remembers which of them was the Fairy Queen — a side effect of being an ether-based being — but she admits that their close link between each other has slowly weared away, and what is left is the feeling of "trust". Elizabeth admits that she cannot help her sister in this crisis, so the only way she could repay her for protecting her was to bring her back to the same ether vein where they were born while she continues to oversee the turn of historical events as the Queen of England. In Murayama, Shirojiro, Heidi and Charles Howard also share the same topic, and Heidi feels puzzled about the situation of Queens Mary and Elizabeth. Charles tells them of changelings, a phenomenon often linked to fairies which involve the switching of children. And in a way, the recreation of the Marian Prosecutions was the event that allowed Bloody Mary to emerge, while allowing Elizabeth to ascend to the throne. Charles then tells the two that the Queen's past and the "fate of the world" can be seen in Avalon. He then reveals that Henry VIII had been researching on the apocalypse and what he discovered was... Deep within the forest inside Avalon, Elizabeth takes Masazumi to a black hole surrounded by flowers. There, the sign of the impending Apocalypse rests. Elizabeth explains that the phenomena that is seen in the Divine States is severely compressed in Avalon, creating a dark hole, and she thinks that those phenomena are actually miniaturized versions of the apocalypse or are tools of it. In his research, Henry VIII was able to compress those phenomena into England's ether vein, creating the black hole that now stands in Avalon. Masazumi appears to be skeptic about Elizabeth's theories, so the Fairy Queen asks her to throw something into the hole. Masazumi decides to throw her left glove, and she watches in disbelief as flowers grow and wilt almost instantaneously, leaving behind not a single trace of the glove. Elizabeth explains that what just happened is that the glove was broken down in a similar way as in the process of creating ether and was reduced to nothingness. She thinks that the apocalypse will turn everything into nothingness, and even the littlest thing consumed by this hole is going to cause another phenomenon elsewhere. Masazumi is rather alarmed that she caused a phenomenon somewhere, but Elizabeth assures her that a phenomenon as small as the one Masazumi caused would not do much and would close up immediately. However, this particular hole is opened up by force by overlapping the distortions to force open the hole and widened the ether veins surrounding the hole to keep it open. Masazumi feels afraid at the thought of the world being distorted and converted into nothingness, overwhelming the ability of ether veins to heal themselves. Elizabeth then reveals that Carlos I of M.H.R.R. has also been helping out in the research, and the problem of the Apocalypse has united, albeit secretly, the minds of different people from opposing sides in various historical conflicts, demonstrating how clear and present the problem with the Apocalypse is. Elizabeth tells Masazumi that the Apocalypse has been a problem for everyone, even for Musashi's enemies, and Musashi itself is shaping itself to be one of the driving forces in preventing the Apocalypse to happen. Masazumi feels somewhat relieved that she was able to go to England, and Elizabeth responds by telling her that she would be upset if she didn't. Soon, the conversation between Masazumi and the Fairy Queen is interrupted by Robert Dudley, who reports someone doing something disgraceful to the Excalibur Caliburn. And it turns out that Toori is humping the sword in front of the Oxford TRUMPS. As Toori gives up in pulling the mythical sword, he calls out to Mary and tells her that one of his friends will be able to pull out the sword if it is impossible for him to do so. As Toori scurries away from those who are going to catch him, Mary, although amused by Toori's unusual pep talk at her remains pessimistic, as she knows she will never see the sword being pulled out from the ground. Meanwhile, Tenzou helps out at the Musashi Engineering Club, and his wall-running skills amaze Naomasa. Nate, on the other hand, comments on his sudden decision to help out, which she suspects is due to him getting dumped by someone in England. She then asks Naomasa if they could train together, and after Nate tells how she was disturbed by F. Walsingham's strength, reveals that Jizurisuzaku needed repairs from someone straight from IZUMO, although she did not expect that a young girl by the name of Hiro Mishina would be the one tasked with tweaking her God of War. Nate soon notices a man with curled blond hair shouting at Tenzou at a distance, and is rather shocked to see Vice Principal Yoshinao in the Engineering Club of all places, accompanied by Toori. Naomasa reveals that Yoshinao actually requested to be given a place to hide there for some reason. Yoshinao continues censuring Tenzou, and he notices a rolled-up piece of paper on Tenzou's pocket. It turns out to be a detailed map of England, and Toori's talk about him "attacking" England worries Yoshinao gravely. Fortunately for Tenzou, Yoshinao covers him saying that the crosses in the map actually pertain to top-notch stores for a "tactical date". Yoshinao decides to give his own pointers, instead, and he hands over the piece of paper back to Tenzou. As a flustered Tenzou looks away from Toori, the Chancellor soon notices that there's still a scar by Tenzou's back, and remembers having healed it before by "Scarred". However, it is still there, and at that moment, Tenzou remembers the words Mary told him before she leaves: "...if I fell for someone, I would like to be the type of woman who can give a scar that lasts a lifetime." After realizing that Mary had actually left a scar on him, Tenzou decides to tell Toori and Yoshinao to expect a big announcement by the last day of the festival and leaves in a flash, remembering that he has an important girl to rescue! Characters By order of appearance New Characters *Toshiie Maeda *Matsu *Hiro Mishina Trivia Cultural References *A dakimakura (抱き枕, lit., "pillow for embracing") is a long pillow that can reach five to six feet in length, designed primarily for a person to hug with. In anime merchandise, dakimakura often come with a cover that has a picture of an anime character, particularly a female's, in a lying down posture to simulate "hugging a desired anime character". Quotes *"I-It may LOOK like a Mortal Sin Armament, but it's not! This is a... body pillow!" — Tomo's spur-of-the-moment alibi for the presence of the Lype Katathlipse during the meeting between England and Musashi Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 Episodes